


a crisp white vest

by talonyth



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, even in another fandom i am still bad at tagging, it's short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 09:28:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11145621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talonyth/pseuds/talonyth
Summary: When a thief and a detective see eye to eye, they see more of each other than anyone else ever would.





	a crisp white vest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boxofwonder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/gifts).



"Until next time, then," Akechi said and smiled. He placed the cup back on the counter and slipped out of his seat, grabbing his jacket. 

"Until next time," Akira said and smiled back. 

They shared a moment, a single look so significant that it had to be broken before anything happened. 

Akechi was always the first to turn away. To leave. As if he was scared that their fragile balance would be broken by what Akira could see in his eyes. 

He wasn't wrong. Akira had seen more than the handsome detective prodigy. Far more.

Ambition. Determination. Fear. Loneliness. 

Hatred. 

In equal parts, Akira was sure Akechi had seen the truth in his eyes. It was only fair, he figured. 

But he hated it too. To lose. To reveal. 

He hated it just as much as Akechi did. 

"Good day," he said the next day. The smile on his lips was glued on him like a badly patched shirt. "I'll have a house blend."

Akira nodded. "Coming right up."

"No one is around? Not even Boss?"

Akira got a cup out of the shelf and dropped a few coffee beans into the roaster. "Holidays for coffee lovers."

"Huh?"

"I'm just kidding," Akira laughed. The crease on Akechi's forehead looked terrible. "He had an urgent call so I am tending the café for him today."

"Right..." 

He played easy to trick. Akira hated that too. As if a detective would so easily believe bullshit like that.   
He was a liar. A pure white vest on the outside, so full of dark on the inside that it started staining. And yet he was still so desperately trying to sell it as clean and crisp. Hiding the stains beneath bleach. 

Perhaps that was why he was surprisingly quiet today. Akira finished up pouring his coffee into the cup before Akechi said another word. 

"Today has been a very odd day so far," he mused, eyes following Akira's hands closely. "The trains were emptier, the people more quiet. It was... almost relaxing."

"Is that so," Akira said. Relaxing. 

Then why did Akechi's eyes reflect none of that? There was no ease in them. A strain unspoken. 

"Perhaps it is simply my imagination." He chuckled. A sweet little sound. Venomously so. 

"Perhaps it is."

Akira placed the cup before Akechi and smiled. Even wider when he saw surprise bloom in Akechi's eyes. He leant over the counter, closer to him. "Ah."

"Ah?"

Akechi blinked. Once. Twice. "Your glasses... You aren't wearing them?"

Akira snickered. "I don't. They're broken."

"Is that so."

Monotony in his voice. Akira could see him so much better like this. So much clearer. 

"I'm a klutz," he said. 

Akechi said nothing. He averted his eyes instead, staring into his coffee.

"Liar." He didn't look up. But Akira could see either way. What Akechi was so desperately, desperately trying to hide. It weighed down his voice. His shoulders. 

"I'll let you in on a secret, Akechi-kun," Akira hummed and folded his hands. Akechi glanced up at him, eyes hidden by his bangs. 

Akira leant in closer, hair brushing against Akechi's. "Those glasses are fake."

"So why wear them, then?" Laughter. It didn't sound amused, though. "I didn't take you for the type to be desperately fashionable."

"Because they shield me from the world," Akira said. Akechi looked up. His eyes were wide open.   
Their noses were touching. 

"And the world from me. That way, I don't have to see all the ugly parts humans show every day, every hour, every minute. Not clearly, at least."

"That's a lie."

Akechi narrowed his eyes but he didn't pull back. There was a glint of what Akira had caught before too. Envy and hatred in eyes that were seeking to be pure.

"Is it? Or is my eyesight just bad? Which is it, Detective Akechi? What is the truth?"

Akira pressed his forehead against Akechi's. 

"You speak no truth. All you do is lie, you filthy thief," Akechi hissed against his lips. 

Akira's grin widened. His cheeks hurt. His breath ran short. He was _delighted_. "Your coffee is gonna go cold."

Akechi didn't reply. He glared. Pressed back against Akira's force. "No defense?"

Akira laughed. "What for? Can't you see?" He brushed his lips against Akechi's but didn't avert his eyes once. Not once. "Or are you scared to stare too much because of what _I_ could see, _Akechi-kun_?"

Akechi crashed his lips against Akira’s, fingers clutching into his collar as if everything depended on that. On breaking this dangerous streak of words before it could destroy more than it already had. 

Akechi’s eyes closed. But Akira's didn't.

**Author's Note:**

> the coffee went cold but i guess goro went hot


End file.
